Disney shutters LucasArts; Star Wars games to be licensed

After three decades of creating memorable adventure games and letting players interact with the Star Wars universe, LucasArts is shutting down. Disney, which bought Lucasfilm and its properties for $4 billion in October, said today that it is closing the video game developer and publisher, and laying off most of its staff. Future games based on Lucasfilm brands will be licensed to outside developers.

After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.

While it’s definitely a sad development, it’s hardly unexpected, and there is still hope that some recently announced titles will see the light of day. One day.

UPDATE: Kotaku reports that their sources say the unfinished games — Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault — probably won’t be finished. They also say about 150 people were let go, and the LucasArts name will be used for game licensing, but the studio is dead.